A Thousand Natural Shocks - by Omar Hussain (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Named one of Murder & Mayhem's Most Anticipated Mystery, Thriller, and Crime Books of 2025

Named a Goodreads Best Thriller & Mystery of 2025

Omar Hussain's dazzling debut, A Thousand Natural Shocks, is a mesmerizing meditation on trauma, memory, and identity wrapped in a high-octane thriller.

Dash, a reporter in Monterey, California, is desperate to outrun his past. During the day, he investigates the reemergence of a long-dormant serial killer. At night, he has become entangled with a criminal cult that promises a pill to erase his traumatic memory.

But as Dash begins to lose his memories--and his sense of self--he discovers a dark secret about the cult, one that would horrify its members. And soon he finds himself in a race against time to evade the cult, unveil the killer, and reconcile his past before his own memories fade away ...

Review Quotes

"This story shines not only because of its unique plot but also because Hussain's voice here is the kind that makes it hard to stop reading...The result is a cohesive and very entertaining novel that hopefully kicks off the career of a new and very exciting voice in speculative fiction."

-- "Locus"

"A debut thriller with both cults and a serial killer? Yes, please."

-- "Goodreads"

"An ambitious and propulsive story."

-- "V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author"

"By the time I'm blasting through the end of the book, Hussain has tied everything together like Jeff Bridges's precious rug in The Big Lebowski. There is catharsis and closure and a good amount of personal revelation. There is an admirably goofy serial-killer sequence that I feel that Hussain had a great deal of fun writing. And finally, I feel a palpable sense of relief, the sort of lightness one feels at the end of a well-paced romp."

-- "Reactor"

"Hussain takes great care in developing this sense of community, particularly through the supporting characters. In A Thousand Natural Shocks, Dash's unusual support group consists of a loyal, exhausted work friend, a sickly old woman who lives in a hair salon, and a battered dog. One of the best quirky entourages I've seen in a long time...Will appeal to readers seeking emotional depth and strong character development."

-- "The Washington Post"

"Intricate, gritty, and unsettling!...A Thousand Natural Shocks is a dark, atmospheric, promising debut by Hussain that kept me enthralled from the very first page and left me entertained, satisfied, and eager to read whatever his deliciously sinister mind manages to come up with next."

-- "What's Better Than Books?"

"A story filled with suspense and introspection."

-- "The Strand Magazine's Mystery Center"

"Part noir, part existential trip, this is an incisive thriller that asks: If you could forget everything, would you? Should you?"

-- "The Seattle Times"

"In Omar Hussain's brilliant thriller, reporter Dash is chasing two stories in Monterey, California: one about a serial killer who has resurfaced, the other about a cult offering a pill to erase traumatic memories."

-- "BookBub"

"Psychological suspense at its finest, tingling with unsettling paranoia and fear...A brilliant debut that slowly builds a momentum capitalizing on the emotional pain, paranoia, and unpredictability of the protagonist to engage all your senses as you dive into a dark and disturbing world of darkness where we run away from our emotions instead of facing them. It'll leave you doing some soul searching."

-- "The Best Thriller Books"

"An unconventional thriller that powerfully probes questions of family, death, and memory...Hussain effectively channels the surreal paranoia of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly and the dark absurdity of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice to craft a wholly original serial killer tale."

-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"

"A Thousand Natural Shocks, an investigation into the lasting impact of violence and trauma, is another 'lyrical and literary' debut thriller that you need to be on the lookout for this year."

-- "Murder & Mayhem"

"Hussain boxes with heavyweights here, going round for round. He has so many ways to get you: the crackling, staccato prose rhythm of Palahniuk's Fight Club, as well as that book's frazzled, immersive psychic energy; a ferociously ticking clock careening toward a cataclysmic plot resolution in the manner of Amis's London Fields; and a captivating mixture of philosophical ambivalence, indignation, and heartbreak around questions of identity that calls Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist to mind. After tangling with the greats, Hussain comes up standing. This is a major debut by a formidable talent."

-- "Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves"

"An engrossing Northern California noir that balances its pulp instincts with haunting atmospherics and a patiently ticking mystery."

-- "Stephen Markley, author of Ohio and The Deluge"

"Omar Hussain's A Thousand Natural Shocks is the most fun reading experience I've had in years. It's a Tarantino movie in book form. And that doesn't mean it skimps on the 'book' part of the equation: it's smart, lyrical, penetrating, and literary as hell. But it also comes with eight thousand volts of sizzle. You'll want to read this before everyone else starts talking about it. Just prepare to have your hair singed."

-- "Darin Strauss, internationally bestselling author of Half a Life"